This collection of Acid Test excerpts is a lot of fun to listen to, but the shiniest gem of them all is Garcia's interview at the end. It gives a lot of insight into his personal philosophies, what the scene was like, and really dispels the pervasive notion of the "lazy hippy." His thoughts on personal and community responsibility are echoed in today's progressive movements, which I found encouraging

1966 where every night is New Years Eve and then some.
I got mine Red Rocks 1985..

Auggie, you're wayyy too modest with your review. I just got through with the stream and I am TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY by In The Midnight Hour*. GOOD GOD! You'd thought you'd heard some fun in those early '80s NYE shows? They are nothing compared to this one. This one will blow your socks off boys and girls! Jerry riffs to high heaven and Pig is under him, in the best scat form I have ever heard. It just cements in granite his title for the greatest white blues singer. Nobody has EVER played Midnight Hour like THAT. Nobody!... Nobody will ever do it that good again. Lordy, Lordy.

And the Boyz just rip the shit out of Viola Lee. King Bee is fabulous. Death Don't rivals Hot Tuna's 1st album...which I thought nobody could touch. These guys were really ON that night. I am amazed at how good these guys were back then. It's hard to believe that anybody white could sound so much like Earl King. And he just blew right past Stevie Ray Vaughn (sorry Stevie). Jerry surprised the hell out of me tonight (but really...should I be surprised?) OK OK, Eric is God...But I'm ready to pronounce here and now, Jerry is ZEUS !!! Thunderbolts and all.

Yeh, most of the show is pretty weird. And I haven't heard Jerry's acid rap in years. But if you isolate all the nutty stuff and really concentrate on the tunes, all the other stuff becomes totally insignificant. The dynamics are much better than I expected from a live '66 show. The big problem is that the sound needs some serious EQing for high voltage cranking. I can't wait to hear this on my good system. :-)

*This same version appears on 3.12.66 It's dynamics aren't quite as good and there is more hiss but, the pitch seems correct. Here, it is too fast.

what the he** some of this has been released ? but we can`t even stream ANY of this sweet looking show . if anyone has this please e-mail me would love to hear at least what can be heard.
rabbicallan@yahoo.com. Thank you .

what the he** some of this has been released ? but we can`t even stream ANY of this sweet looking show . if anyone has this please e-mail me would love to hear at least what can be heard.
crazy.people26@yahoo.com Thank you .

According to information found on dead.net, this seems to be an acid test that took place on January 07, 1966, at the Fillmore. When streamed, the set, is as follows:

1. Stage Chaos/More Power Rap
2. King Bee
3. I'm a Hog For You Baby
4. Caution: Do Not Step On Tracks ->
5. Death Don't Have No Mercy
6. Star Spangled Banner / closing remarks

The information, sparse as it is, can be seen at:

http://www.dead.net/show/january-7-1966

2.25.66 Cross referenced with deadbase.

The fuckin coolest.

This is all I had hoped it would be!

A little digression here:

Another good read is the chapters about San Fran, The Acid Tests, Kesey and the Pranksters, and Haight Ashbury in the book "Acid Dreams". Hell, read the whole book it's a magnificent book about the influence of LSD on Society.

Tonight is the 40th anniversary of this test, alleged to have taken place at the Fillmore. That would make it the earliest available live Dead. Sounds damn good.

Songs will stream (not what's currently listed):
1. Stage Chaos/ Power Rap
2. King Bee
3. I'm a Hog for you Baby
4. Caution
5. Death don't have no Mercy
6. Star Spangled Banner/ Closing remarks

So, as I go to write this little review I see the following message at the bottom: "Please limit your comments to issues pertaining to the show and sound quality, not other reviewers." Darn... and just as I was going to point out that it's GRATEFUL DEAD (not Greatful Dead), OWSLEY (not Osley) Stanley, and NEAL CASSADY (not Cassidy, though he gets extra credit for spelling Neal correctly). So anyway, never mind all of that.

This is a phenomenal recording, one that anthropologists will study centuries from now in their unwieldy effort to glean an understanding of America in 1965 & 66. Will they be able to unravel the DNA-like strands that lead inevitably to The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)? Probably not, but I'll bet they'll have a lot of fun along the way.

"Can YOU pass the acid test?" Me neither. [wink]

Just the shit inbetween songs alone is worth listening to.There are not very many people who can say they were at these test,So just to have these recordings to listen to is priceless to me.I grew up Idolizing the people who made this shit happen,Kesey,NEal cassidy,the Greatful Dead,and of course Osley.and to have a recording of a night with them together is amazing. This is a true must have for any Dead Head or anyone who respects what vision all these folks had.There will never be anthing like A Greatful Dead show.NEVER WILL BE.

THEY WERE ACID TESTING c'mon cut them some slack. You try too play after Kesey just put 1000 mics under your eyelids of Owsley orange sunshine. Not to mention what other goodies they did (STP , MDMA , Mesculin sulfate, or DMT). Owsley made it all and the were living with him by the end of this year for the LA Acid Test when Kesey was in Mexico. These shows are ultra precious and way too experimental too judge under any normal context

The Viola Lee that leads off the abbreviated version of 3.12.66 is not from that night at all, but from 12.1.66 at the Matrix. This recording is better--the other doesn't have much bottom. Leading to the conclusion that the version of Viola Lee that leads of the expanded version of 3.12.66 (appearing on the Archive under that date) is the one that belongs with the rest of this material. (whether it really is the Pico Acid Test is, of course, open to speculation).

the deadbase dates this show to be at the fillmore auditorium in san francisco, ca and the set list was:
King Bee, Hog For You Baby, Caution> Death Don't

now this is good stuff. ill agree that the playing and sound isnt really the best quality, these shows are a must have for any deadhead. its the dawn of the dead, turbulent times and just good ol fashined lsd induced fun. and i know its been said, but read the electric koolaid acid test.

This stuff is really weird. Also, Jerry's guitar soloing isn't that great; he had a long way to go before the glory days of '68-'74.
That said, there are many great musical moments. The Viola Lee, running in excess of 14 minutes, is excellent. The early versions of King Bee, Caution, Midnight Hour and Next Time are interesting, but not Earth-shaking.
Far more priceless is the interview with Jerry on Disc 4, which is fascinating to hear him talk about the changing society of the late-'60s.

Amazing. Study these tapes.

Like the naughty little girl, when they were good, they were very, very good; but when they were bad, they were, well, forgettable. The takes of "Death Don't Have No Mercy," "In The Midnight Hour," and "Viola Lee Blues" are as good as anything the group ever did and, in some ways, better with the original lineup. These and the other three song tracks are quintessential reminders of just how good mid-60s rock could be and go far beyond fan interest only. The rest is for those trying to remember why they have forgotten the 60s. The raw sound quality is good for the time and venue and actually enhances the performances.

what a compostion of recorded sound!
Acid released some brilliant sounds and raps here.
hooray for the archive.
These discs are worth getting: little bit of crazy good music, interspersed with Kesey and Prankster raps, spiced with a righteous amount of weirdness.
Find the right set and setting, then give these recordings a try.
Especially the Prankster Music Collage sequence, its beautiful but cut short. Wonder how long it went on for, and where it may have gone.
5 stars for acid on tape here.

Read the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

This is great to have if you are a big dead fan and a fan of the sixties. Great interview with Garcia with his thoughts on the war and the other band like the Airplane and Buffalo Springfield.

people are not out of touch with the grateful dead,but not everyone knows every song that they played (let alone coverd). anyway, triped out soundscrapes, eat mushes and take a journey

For those of you that find this to be obvious info, go back to sleep.

In August of 2004, my wife and I went to a DSO concert, where we found many of todays supposed psychedelic voyagers did not even know the song "The Promised Land". They would come up to me and ask, "Dude, what's that song?"

What this means is two things. (1) The memory of the Dead is starting to fade from the culture. (2) The memory of the great Chuck Berry is also starting to fade.

If you are scratching your head and going, "Huh, dude?," over the six acid test discs, then I beg you; please, please, please, read "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe. Not only will it give you juicy tidbits about the early psychedelic movement, but it is also a fun read. I promise that if you read this book, then the six Acid Test discs will make a lot more sense, so to speak.

Sincerely,

A concerned Soundlunker

There's a complete show from 3/12 out there.

Sorry, just noted complete 3/12 has been downloaded.